Particle therapy systems use an accelerator to generate a particle beam for treating afflictions, such as tumors. In operation, the particle beam is accelerated inside a cavity of the particle accelerator, and removed from the cavity through an extraction channel. Various elements are used to focus the particle beam and apply it to appropriate areas of a patient.
Different patients may require different treatment plans. A prescription defines various operational characteristics of a particle therapy system, which may be used to implement a treatment plan. Information in the prescription is translated into various machine instructions that are used to configure to the particle therapy system to achieve the operational characteristics required by the prescription.